Two young men are being praised for their heroic efforts after they helped save their disabled neighbour from a burning building.
Just after 11 p.m. Friday, residents of a home in the 9900-block of Scott Road smelled something burning. Within minutes, thick black smoke was billowing out of the home’s air ducts.
That’s when they heard screaming coming from a suite that was occupied by their neighbour, who has serious mobility issues and was unable to get out of bed.
“Me and my friend ran to the front of the house,” rescuer Reshad Iwaczewski said. “The smoke was pouring out of his suite. We couldn’t see anything. We’re yelling to try and see where he is.”
With the fire quickly spreading, Iwaczewski and his friend took turns crawling into the suite to pull the man closer to the window to get air.
“There was broken glass everywhere,” Iwaczewski said. “We used the towel to wrap around his arms, to sit there and drag him out as close as we can to the door so he could get some fresh air. As we were doing that we were having to run out and back in because the smoke was just intense.”
“It was terrifying. It felt like a scene in a movie.”
Emergency crews arrived and took the victim to hospital. Two other families inside the home escaped with minor injuries.
Investigators are looking into what caused the fire.
Iwaczewski said he and his friend didn’t think twice about putting themselves in harm’s way to help the man.
“We’ve lived here for some years now and he became a part of our family,” he said.
“We knew in the end he wasn’t going to be able to help himself and we were the only ones who were going to be able to help him.”